1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to articles of manufacture suitable for supporting apertured items for display. More particularly, the present invention relates to support members for displayed items, which members can be suspended forwardly of a display shelf. The displayed items generally take the form of blister packs, apertured sheets of promotional material, and the like, but are not so limited.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Apertured items such a blister packs, and the like, are generally suspended forwardly of a display shelf on which other items for display are supported. The apertured items may be suspended one-behind-the-other from a common hook-like member, such as the well known J-hook. The J-hook, although widely used, can be somewhat disadvantageous since it projects considerably forward of the shelf into an aisle traveled by shoppers. The projecting J-hook can thus cause injury or damage to the person or clothing of the shoppers.
An alternative to the J-hook is the clip-strip, such as described and illustrated in my U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 06/358,868, filed Mar. 17, 1982, and entitled "Support Hook and Assembly for Merchandising Display" (the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by this reference in its entirety). The clip-strip is suspended from the forward edge of a display shelf and supports items for display one above the other. This arrangement greatly reduces the danger to passing shoppers. However, the clip-strip requires a separate structure in order to attach it to the display shelf, thereby increasing its costs.
In my afore-mentioned U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 06/422,009, I disclosed a unit for supporting apertured items, such as blister packs, which unit is adapted to be supported on a lower ledge of a price molding or similar forward facing edge of a display shelf. Specifically, that unit includes a flexible tag-like mounting portion having a bottom support edge divided into two longitudinally-spaced and alignable edge segments. The edge segments are adapted to rest on a lower ledge formed in the forward edge of a display shelf. If the shelf forward ledge is a price molding, the tag-like mounting portion is flexed about an axis disposed parallel to the edge segments so that the upper edge of the mounting portion engages the upper ledge of the price molding and the mounting portion is secured by flexible engagement to the price molding. Alternatively, the back of the mounting portion may be provided with an adhesive backing to hold the mounting portion in place with the edge segments resting on the lower shelf ledge.
The support unit of my aforesaid patent application further includes an integral item-supporting portion in the form of a strip or flap member which extends through the space between the edge segments of the mounting portion. The flap includes one or more finger-like support hooks which are die cut so as to be bent or flexed out of the plane of the flap or strip so that one or more apertured items may be suspended from the hooks. In one embodiment, the hooks are arranged one-above-the-other and are contoured arcuately in a dimension transverse to their lengths to impart strength thereto. In another embodiment, the hook has a bi-winged tip which is flexibly foldable to permit it to be inserted into an aperture of a display item. The wings resiliently unfold to lock the item onto the hook. This latter arrangement is suitable for promotional paper sheets which can be placed on the hook in stacks and then individually torn off the hook by shoppers.
Although the support unit described in my afore-mentioned U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 06/422,009 is quite effective for displaying merchandise forwardly of a shelf, it is only applicable to display shelves which have a bottom ledge on their forward facing edges. For shelves having no such ledge, the support unit cannot be properly mounted without adhesive, or the like.